Darker

2017·3.14 MB·english

by  James

BOOKS BY E LJAMES

Fifty Shades of Grey
Fifty Shades Darker
Fifty Shades Freed
Grey
Darker

FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, NOVEMBER 2017
Copyright © 2011, 2017 by Fifty Shades Ltd.
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, and
distributed in Canada by Penguin Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Portions of this book, including significant portions of the dialogue and e-mail exchanges, have previously appeared in the author’s prior
works.
ISBN 9780385543910
Ebook ISBN 9780385543989
Cover design by Sqicedragon and Megan Wilson
Cover photograph: © Petar Djordjevic / Penguin Random House
www.vintagebooks.com
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Contents
Cover
Also by E L James
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
About the Author
For my readers.
Thank you for all that you’ve done for me.
This book is for you.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to:
Everyone at Vintage, for your dedication and professionalism. I am constantly inspired by your
expertise, good humor, and love for the written word.
Anne Messitte, for your faith in me. I will forever be indebted to you.
Tony Chirico, Russell Perreault, and Paul Bogaards for your invaluable support.
The wonderful production, editorial, and design team who brought this project together: Megan
Wilson, Lydia Buechler, Kathy Hourigan, Andy Hughes, Chris Zucker, and Amy Brosey.
Niall Leonard, for your love, support, and guidance, and for being less grumpy.
Valerie Hoskins, my agent—thank you for everything every day.
Kathleen Blandino, for the pre-read, and for all things Web.
Brian Brunetti, once again, for your invaluable insight into helicopter accidents.
Laura Edmonston for sharing your knowledge of the Pacific Northwest.
Professor Chris Collins, for enlightening me about soil science.
Ruth, Debra, Helena, and Liv for the encouragement and word challenges, and for making me get
this done.
Dawn and Daisy, for your friendship and advice.
Andrea, BG, Becca, Bee, Britt, Catherine, Jada, Jill, Kellie, Kelly, Leis, Liz, Nora, Raizie, QT,
Susi—how many years is it now? And we’re still going strong. Thank you for the Americanisms.
And all my author and book world friends—you know who you are—you inspire me every day.
And lastly, thank you to my children. I love you unconditionally. I will always be so proud of the
wonderful young men you have become. You bring me such joy.
Stay golden. Both of you.
THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2011
I
sit. Waiting. My heart is thumping. It’s 5:36 and I stare through the privacy glass of my Audi at the
front door of her building. I know I’m early, but I’ve been looking forward to this moment all day.
I’m going to see her.
I shift in my seat in the rear of the car. The atmosphere feels stifling, and though I’m trying to
remain calm, the anticipation and anxiety are knotting my stomach and pressing down on my chest.
Taylor sits in the driver’s seat, staring straight ahead, wordless, looking his usual composed self,
while I can barely breathe. It’s irritating.
Damn it. Where is she?
She’s inside—inside Seattle Independent Publishing. Set back beyond a wide, open sidewalk, the
building is shabby and in need of renovation; the company’s name is etched haphazardly in the glass,
and the frosted effect on the window is peeling. The business behind those closed doors could be an
insurance company or an accounting firm—they’re not displaying their wares. Well, that’s something I
can rectify when I take control. SIP is mine. Almost. I’ve signed the revised heads of agreement.
Taylor clears his throat and his eyes dart to mine in the rearview mirror. “I’ll wait outside, sir,” he
says, surprising me, and he climbs out of the car before I can stop him.
Maybe he’s more affected by my tension than I thought. Am I that obvious? Maybe he’s tense. But
why? Maybe it’s because he’s had to deal with my ever-changing moods this past week, and I know
I’ve not been easy.
But today has been different. Hopeful. It’s the first productive day I’ve had since she left me, or so
it feels. My optimism has driven me through my meetings with enthusiasm. Ten hours until I see her.
Nine. Eight. Seven…My patience has been tested by the clock as it ticks closer to my reunion with
Miss Anastasia Steele.
And now that I’m sitting here, alone and waiting, the determination and confidence I’ve enjoyed all
day are evaporating.
Perhaps she’s changed her mind.
Will it be a reunion? Or am I just the free ride to Portland?
I check my watch again.
5:38.
Shit. Why does time move so slowly?
I contemplate sending her an e-mail to let her know I’m outside, but as I fumble for my phone, I
realize I don’t want to take my eyes off the front door. Leaning back, I run through her recent e-mails
in my mind. I know them by heart, all of them friendly and concise but without a hint that she’s been
missing me.
Maybe I am the free ride.
I dismiss the thought and stare at the doorway, willing her to appear.
Anastasia Steele, I’m waiting.
The door opens and my heart soars into overdrive but then quickly stutters with disappointment. It’s
not her.
Damn.
She has always kept me waiting. A humorless smile tugs at my lips: waiting at Clayton’s, at The
Heathman after the photo shoot, and again when I sent her the Thomas Hardy books.
Tess…
I wonder if she still has them. She wanted to give them back to me; she wanted to give them to a
charity.
I don’t want anything that will remind me of you.
The image of Ana leaving surfaces in my mind’s eye: her sad, ashen face stricken with hurt and
confusion. The memory is unwelcome. Painful.
I made her that miserable. I took everything too far, too quickly. And it fills me with a despair that
has become all too familiar since she left. Closing my eyes, I try to center myself, but I’m confronted
by my deepest, darkest fear: she’s met someone else. She’s sharing her little white bed and her
beautiful body with some fucking stranger.
Damn it, Grey. Stay positive.
Don’t go there. All is not lost. You’ll be seeing her shortly. Your plans are in place. You are going
to win her back. Opening my eyes, I stare at the front door through the window, my mood now as dark
as the Audi’s tinted glass. More people leave the building, but still no Ana.
Where is she?
Taylor is pacing outside and glancing toward the front door. Christ, he looks as nervous as I feel.
What the hell is it to him?
My watch says 5:43. She’ll be out in a moment. I take a deep breath and tug at my cuffs, then try to
straighten my tie, only to find I’m not wearing one. Hell. Raking my hand through my hair, I try to
dismiss my doubts, but they continue to plague me. Am I just a free ride to her? Will she have missed
me? Will she want me back? Is there someone else? I have no idea. This is worse than waiting for
her in the Marble Bar, and the irony is not lost on me. I thought that was the biggest deal I’d ever
negotiate with her and that didn’t turn out the way I expected. Nothing turns out as I expect with Miss
Anastasia Steele. Panic knots my stomach once more. Today, I have to negotiate a bigger deal.
I want her back.
She said she loved me…
My heart rate spikes in response to the adrenaline that floods my body.
No. No. Don’t think about that. She can’t feel that way about me.
Calm down, Grey. Focus.
I glance once more at the entrance to Seattle Independent Publishing and she’s there, walking
toward me.
Fuck.
Ana.
Shock sucks the breath from my body like a kick to the solar plexus. Beneath a black jacket she’s
wearing one of my favorite dresses, the purple one, and black high-heeled boots. Her hair, burnished
by the early-evening sun, sways in the breeze as she moves. But it’s not her clothing or her hair that
holds my attention. Her face is pale, almost translucent. There are dark circles beneath her eyes, and
she’s thinner.
Thinner.
Guilt lances through me.
Christ.
She’s suffered, too.
My concern at her appearance turns to anger.
No. Fury.
She hasn’t been eating. She’s lost, what, five or six pounds in the last few days? She glances at
some random guy behind her and he gives her a broad smile. He’s a good-looking son of a bitch, full
of himself. Asshole. Their carefree exchange only fuels my rage. He watches her with blatant male
appreciation as she walks toward the car, and my wrath increases with each of her steps.
Taylor opens the door and offers her his hand to help her climb inside. And suddenly she is sitting
beside me.
“When did you last eat?” I snap, struggling to keep my composure. Her blue eyes peer up at me,
stripping me bare and leaving me as raw as they did the first time I met her.
“Hello, Christian. Yes, it’s nice to see you, too,” she says.
What. The. Fuck.
“I don’t want your smart mouth now. Answer me.”
She stares at her hands in her lap, so that I’ve no idea what she’s thinking, then trots out some lame
excuse about eating a yogurt and a banana.
That’s not eating!
I try, really try, to keep a rein on my temper.
“When did you last have a real meal?” I press her, but she ignores me, looking out the window.
Taylor pulls away from the curb, and Ana waves to the prick who followed her out of the building.
“Who’s that?”
“My boss.”
So that’s Jack Hyde. I recall the employee details I flipped through this morning: from Detroit,
scholarship to Princeton, worked his way up at a publishing firm in New York but has moved on
every few years, working his way across the country. He never retains an assistant—they don’t last
more than three months. He’s on my watch list, and I’ll have my security adviser Welch find out more.
Focus on the matter at hand, Grey.
“Well? Your last meal?”